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Monday, April 30, 2012

A number of companies have signed up to a sustainability campaign designed to ensure seafood suppliers follow guidelines for farmed and wild-caught seafood.

The latest recruit to the latest Global Aquaculture Alliance initative is Meijer who has promised to formalise its efforts to ensure its
seafood suppliers maintain the highest standards regarding
sustainability practice.

An oxygenation
and flow control system aims
to provide a whole-life option for land-based aquaculture programmes.

BOC’s
SOLVOX®
OxyStream technology operates over a full range of salinity
conditions, eliminating the need to transfer fish from land-based
tanks to sea cages as they grow. The
technology is particularly suited to ongrowing fish to post-smolt
stage in the same location.

SOLVOX®
OxyStream tackles three critical conditions essential for
an effective and efficient aquaculture process. It dissolves oxygen
into the stock tank water directly at point of use; creates the
correct hydrodynamics with adjustable directional flow; and strips
out potentially harmful gases such as dissolved nitrogen. BOC
believe the system is easily installed – both in new and retrofit
projects – and is virtually maintenance-free.

Keith
Nicholson, BOC Technical Specialist, says, “Until recently,
maintaining the oxygen levels and quality of the environment in
land-based facilities over a sustained period was a difficult
challenge. The SOLVOX®
OxyStream solution means that whole-life on-land aquaculture is now
an attractive and cost effective option for the industry.” Read more...

Fifty-two
participants from bass and bream hatcheries across Turkey got up to
date with the latest developments across the European fish
aquaculture industry. As a result, InVe Aquaculture is celebrating after it hosted this successful seminar in
Bodrum, Turkey on March 27, 2012. Stelios
Leontios, Sales Director Europe, says, “The central theme of this
seminar focused on how to produce the highest quality fry at the best
possible cost.”

Hot
topics included how to optimise rotifer management, the advantage of
using probiotics in fish aquaculture and finding the best balance
between the use of Artemia
and
the use of dry feeds.

The
Bodrum seminar complements InVe Aquaculture’s new vision: 'Shaping
aquaculture together'. The company believes the only way to shape
the future of aquaculture is by building and maintaining a strong,
close relationship with partners and customers.

Nell
Halse, a spokeswoman for Cooke Aquaculture, said the company doesn’t
believe the virus will spread beyond the one site where it’s been
detected and the firm intends to proceed with applications for two
new sites in nearby Jordan Bay.

But
environmental group, Ecology Action Centre, said that historically
the spread of the virus is likely. Susanna Fuller, a
spokeswoman for the group said: "Everywhere it’s happened,
whether New Brunswick or Chile, it has spread site-to-site.” Read more...

Fisheries Officers near Bermagui on the NSW Far
South Coast in Australia have apprehended a 36-year-old man from Bateman’s Bay up a treeduring a compliance operation targeting an illegal abalone
syndicate.

NSW Department of Primary Industries (NSW DPI) Fisheries Compliance
Director, Glenn Tritton, said, “Members of the Statewide Operations and Investigation Group, with
assistance from Montague district Fisheries Officers, apprehended the
man following a period of surveillance.”

Blacklip abalone ( Haliotis rubra ), still alive, harvested from the south coast of New South Wales (NSW), Australia. Scale: shell length = 12.3 cm. Due to over-harvesting, abalone are subject to a strict bag limit of two in NSW (with a fishing licence), and may only be taken if over 11.7 cm. Français : Ormeaux (Haliotis rubra) (Hauteur = 12.3 cm) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“When approached in bushland, the man attempted to avoid detection and was located hiding up in a tree. It is alleged that he was in possession of 161 shucked Blacklip
abalone, 159 more than the legal limit of two per person in NSW."

He faces a charge of trafficking in an indictable fish species,
which carries a maximum penalty of 10 year imprisonment.

Friday, April 27, 2012

In
our industry customer satisfaction is more than just the quality of
the fish bought. It is also about branding and customer
relationships.

That's
the message Norway brought to the European
Seafood Exposition 2012 in Brussels earlier this week when it held a
press conference announcing a new project on labeling.

Attending
the launch of the project was the Norwegian Minister of Fisheries,
Mrs Lisbeth Berg-Hansen, along with senior industry representatives
such as the CEO of Marine Harvest, Alf Helge Aarskog, Gro Dyrnes from
Innovation Norway and the CEO of Norwegian Seafood Federation.

"We have the Story of the Seafood we sell. What do you like to know?"

Modern
consumers expect sustainable and healthy products, products made to
suit their lifestyle at the best quality:price ratio. The 'story'
behind seafood must therefore be available to the consumer, to the
retailer and to all actors in the supply chain.

Today,
most seafood producers give information about the seafood and label
the products as best as they can. There is no standard - national or
international - in operation on how to label the fish crates and
pallets, and what information should follow the seafood from ocean or
fishfarm to the consumer.The
consequence is that the consumer, the retailer, the fishmonger or
your waiter may lack information about the quality of the seafood
they sell, and where it is coming from.

Information
is often transferred by fax, phone and the internet, or manually and
punched into IT systems. This takes time and time is essential when
handling fresh seafood. Lost time results in a shorter shelf life in
stores.

Norway,
as the world leading seafood supplier, has therefore funded a project
which will solve this problem for all actors in the industry and
supply chain - for the consumers' benefit.

The
project

Innovation
Norway has funded a project which will increase the quality and
productivity in the Seafood Supply Chain, and for the benefit of the
consumer: The project has been strongly supported by all players in
the supply chain: producers, fish farmers, processors, logistic
companies, exporters, importers, retail chains and Food and Health
Authorities. And by the Ministry of Fisheries and Coastal Affairs.

The
innovation project consists of three main actions:

Developing a new Standard for labeling fish crates and pallets,
including electronic reading and what information should follow the
Seafood from producer to consumer. Responsible body: Standard Norway

A pilot project for testing of the labeling system from producer to
the seafood counter. Responsibility has been given to the logistics
company DB Schenker in Norway, in cooperation with the producers and
exporters Hallvard Lerøy AS and Nordic Group AS and Norway's largest
food retail chain, Norges Gruppen ASA

An
implementation project, for finding the needs and challenges for the
seafood industry to start using the new standard. Developing the
tools, system integration and support system to implement the
standard among all the seafood producers and processors at lowest
cost possible. Responsible body: Norwegian Seafood Federation (FHL)
and the Norwegian Seafood Association (NSL)

The
Standard

The
Standard defines the minimum size of the label and prescribes the
information to be printed, of which a set of core data will be in
electronic readable form, for example, bar codes. The Standard is
independent for use of data capture technologies. Two dimensional bar
codes or RFID technologies can be used as soon as the supply chain
can utilize these technologies.

Each
fish crate will have its own and unique identification. When fish
crates are loaded on pallets, the pallets will get a label
identifying which crates are on the pallet.The
Standard describes the information that shall follow the seafood
during all logistics. Included, is information that is required by
the different authorities in the different countries and the EU. It
will include information the different players in the supply chain
need in order to increase their productivity and quality, and to
optimize their own processes.

The
labeling system on fish crates and pallets will also be the source of
information for efficient tracing and tracking.

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